Mr. Brown, forgive my ignorance, I’m really new to the world of blogging and local politics. I was at the delegation with my husband and two OHS high school students. We all volunteered – in the hopes that Vice-Mayor Harrover would be successful.

I’m still a little shell shocked over the outcome and the behavior of our incumbents… I didn’t anticipate the ugliness and blatant “there is no problem here” response.

Anyway – you mentioned the ADCO funds, I was off put by the irony – Mr. Wolfe was touting his success at the podium, in the deportation of illegals, and mentioned the ballet so many times, I was a little thrown off and may have missed other points he made. The question I have, I guess, is – if there was an illegal immigrant involved in counting his ballots, would that be an issue for him? Because I brought my 18 year old son, a White registered voter and OHS senior and his best friend, an 18 year old Hispanic OHS senior, who lives with me, and has been a student here for 12 years… I felt, as a parent, it would be good for these kids to be involved in the political process.

I’m embarrassed now, that they had to witness Saturdays speeches – but I think it opened their eyes. To be fair, before anyone who reads this gets too jacked out of shape, I’ve known this child’s family for over 10 years and have actually seen their tax returns, their property assessment is higher than mine, so they do contribute more money to the City coffers than I do… two of their children just happened to be born outside the US, another, who was born in Fairfax, is a top performer in the City school system and I’m certain one day he’ll be dragged out as a success story as the “token Hispanic” that the school’s created.

Is the political process invalid because of this? I had no idea the boys would be used in the ballot room and it never occurred to me to disclose this students legal status… in my mind, he’s just an awesome kid, who wants to graduate, go to college and become a police officer, I don’t see him as a “Hispanic” or “Illegal” he’s just as American as my kids. In fact, I doubt anyone realized he was one of “them”

It baffles me, I spoke with the Deputy Director of the Northern Virginia Training Academy, where the City’s police get trained – and he said this kid was “the golden commodity” simply because he is bi-lingual. Fairfax County actually has a paid cadet program he can apply for and receive tuition assistance. It’s hard because he wants to make a difference in this community, but I’m concerned that he may learn that our local government doesn’t want his “kind” here, and it makes me ashamed to live in the City of Manassas – how do we ever improve anything if we lose sight of that fact that our students, these children, have all grown up together, play together and when they get older we start throwing them under the bus – because we never just accepted that we’re all just humans. These kids bleed just like ours – why do we have to be so callous? I saw a quote recently by Mother Theresa, “when we judge, we have no time to love” I wonder if, when we blame, do we have time to find solutions?

By the way, I just learned, that while my real estate taxes have been lowered, my home assessment has gone up dramatically and my mortgage payment is going up $100 per month… and then I researched my home value – it is lower than it was in 2001, prior to the housing bubble. It’s a sad shell game, if I had a business here, and not a home and children, I’d be in great shape. But after 12 years of home ownership, and tens of thousands of dollars invested in my property, I’m lucky if I’ll be able to walk away with anything. And leaving the City of Manassas is my only goal for the future. My 16 year old daughter has friends and cousins in Arlington and Fairfax County schools – she recently thanked me for providing her with a sub-par education. Wow. How does a parent respond to that?

Sorry for the length of my post, and the typos I’m sure it contains – the problem with getting involved, is learning all of the things you wish you never knew. It’s painful, because I can only blame my self for being un-informed and accepting the status quo. I’m looking for some enlightenment and hope after Saturday, please.

Ms Reistad,
The irony of an illegal alien wanting to grow up and be a law enforcement officer is poignant and a little discombobulating at the same time. 🙂

Our immigration system is in chaos. Both major political parties are responsible. Businesses which have exploited legal immigrants, guest workers and illegal aliens are just as responsible as the politicians and just as culpable as the politicians of destroying the standard of living for communities like Manassas, which have been hit hard by the crisis.

Mr. Wolfe is both a politician and a businessman. It all gets somewhat confusing doesn’t it?

Maybe the Manassas Ballet will be the young man’s first call after he is sworn in as a law enforcement official?